{"id":14729,"date":"2015-06-11T22:13:55","date_gmt":"2015-06-11T21:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/?p=14729"},"modified":"2015-06-11T22:13:55","modified_gmt":"2015-06-11T21:13:55","slug":"procopius-of-gaza-and-matthew-2725","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/2015\/06\/11\/procopius-of-gaza-and-matthew-2725\/","title":{"rendered":"Procopius of Gaza and Matthew 27:25"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Our <a href=\"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/2015\/05\/25\/his-blood-be-upon-us-the-use-of-mt-2725-and-acts-410-in-patristic-writers\/\">review of patristic references to Matthew 27:25<\/a> (&#8220;His blood be upon us and our children&#8221;) has now reached the latest author given by BiblIndex, Procopius of Gaza.\u00a0 With this author we have reached the 6th century, and there is a case that we are no longer dealing with patristic writers, but rather with Byzantine ones.\u00a0 Procopius was the author of the catena-type of commentary, the medieval Greek commentary formed out of quotations of earlier writers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">But I have never looked at his work, so it might be rather fun to see what he has to offer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">BiblIndex\u00a0offer two references:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Procopius of Gaza, <em>Catena in Esaiam<\/em>, PG 87.2, 1817-2718. \u00a7 1 (p.857); \u00a7 2 (p.352); \u00a7 2 (p.600)<\/li>\n<li>Procopius of Gaza, <em>Commentarii in Octateuchum<\/em>, PG 87.1, 21-1220. (p.252); (p.491, l.46); (p.919); (p.923); \u00a7 1 (p.41)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Let&#8217;s start with the <em>Catena on Isaiah.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The first reference is to <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.co.uk\/books?id=1zaGqVzIMosC&amp;pg=RA1-PA1862#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\">PG 87.2, column 1857<\/a> (not 857).\u00a0 This is commentary on Isaiah 1:21-23, &#8220;<em>See how the faithful city\u00a0<span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Isa-1-21\">has become a prostitute! <\/span><\/span><span class=\"text Isa-1-21\">She once was full of justice;\u00a0r<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Isa-1-21\">ighteousness used to dwell in her\u2014\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Isa-1-21\"><em>but now murderers!<\/em>&#8220;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">And it [Jerusalem]\u00a0is called <em>a prostitute<\/em>, on account of the\u00a0fornications of the inhabitants; whom likewise he calls <em>murderers<\/em>.\u00a0 For finally after shedding the blood of Christ, they are bold enough to say, &#8220;His blood be upon us.&#8221;\u00a0 But indeed they had not even spared the prophets themselves previously.\u00a0 For\u00a0it says, &#8220;Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kill the prophets.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Stephen upbraids the Jews, &#8220;For which of the prophets did your fathers not kill?&#8221;\u00a0 But in those times it was more appropriate, in which the Saviour came among us; whence he was accustomed to call them also a wicked and\u00a0 adulterous generation.\u00a0 And so, in his time,\u00a0Isaiah accuses them, not now of idolatries, but of\u00a0violence and murder.\u00a0 And since, after being so bold in the crime against the Lord, they wished to be considered as masters of piety.[ref]At <em>meretrix<\/em> dicitur, propter scortationes incolarum; quos item <em>homicidas<\/em> vocat. Tandem enim effuso Christi sanguine, dicere ausi sunt : &#8220;Sanguis ejus super nos.&#8221; Imo ne prophetis quidem ipsis antea pepercerunt. Ait enim: &#8220;Jerusalem, Jerusalem, quae occidis prophetas.&#8221; Quem enim prophetarum non occiderunt patres vestri, Judaeis exprobrat Stephanus? Sed temporibus istis magis conveniant, quibus peregrinatus est nobiscum Salvator; unde erat etiam generationem pravam et adulteram eos appellare solitus. Hoc itaque tempore, non eos jam idololatriae, sed caedis, et homicidii, Isaias accusat. Et quoniam post tam audax in Dominum facinus, pietatis magistri haberi volebant.[\/ref]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">All of\u00a0this is merely historical exegesis, following the practice of earlier commentators in identifying in the Old Testament parallels to the events of the New Testament.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The second passage is on col. 2352 (not 352 &#8211; it looks as if the first numeral has been omitted in every case), which\u00a0I would link to if the wretched\u00a0hotel wifi and the equally wretched Google Books viewer would cooperate.\u00a0 This passage is on Isaiah 41:1-7.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">What can I [God]\u00a0be lacking of that, who am eternal, without corruption of any kind,\u00a0and unaffected\u00a0in fact by the customs of men?\u00a0 But you argue so with yourself, he says, &#8220;If the new things surpass the old, what a trouble it is to carry on altogether with the old laws.\u00a0Is it not better to be taught that which is now proclaimed?\u00a0 And you do not know the economy of the divine wisdom, of which the apostle learnedly predicted, he affirmed that the law was introduced\u00a0that sin might abound: then, that the scripture said that all are under sin, that He might have mercy on all.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The law itself shows the weakness of man, not justifying them but condemning them, whom Christ has justified by grace.\u00a0 For He is the one who, although he does not hunger, grants spiritual power to those who hunger after justice.\u00a0 And he makes the destitute, drowned in feeling grief, understand the vindication of the sinners.\u00a0 For he is\u00a0used to the grief that leads to salvation, which is according to God, so that penitence may be done in a way requiring least penitence; in fact he even understands the grief, which those who shouted &#8220;His blood be upon us and our children&#8221; felt at the capture of the city [of Jerusalem].\u00a0 For\u00a0with spiritual food the destitute have escaped illness, although they earlier exceeded in power, when on account of their weakness, the nations were being trampled by the feet of the devil; &#8230; [ref]Qui possum ego istis indigere, qui sum aeternus, nulli corruptioni, nulli denique, more hominum, passioni obnoxius? Sed tecum ita ratiocinaris, inquit: Si veteribus praestant, quae nova sunt; quid omnino priores ferre leges opus fuerat? num tunc doceri satius, quae nunc promulgantur? At ignoras divinae sapientiae oeconomiam, cujus cognitione praeditus Apostolus, legem introduci, ut peccatum abundaret, affirmavit: deinde, conclusisse Scripturam omnes sub peccato, ut omnium misereretur. Arguit igitur hominum imbecillitatem lex ipsa, non eos justificans, sed damnans, quos Christus gratia justificavit. Ipse enim est, qui, praeterquam quod non esurit, iis etiam, qui justitiam esuriunt spirituale robur largitur; sensuque destitutos immisso moerore, vindictam peccatorum persentire facit. Solet enim ad salutem moeror, qui secundum Deum est, poenitentiam operari minimo poenitendam: vel certe moerorem eum hic intelligit, quem ab urbis expugnatione iidem perceperunt, qui sanguis ejus super nos et super filios nostros inclamarunt. Illi enim spirituali cibo destituti, infirmi evaserunt , quantumvis, antea robore praestarent: cum propter imbecillitatem, diaboli pedibus gentes calcarentur; praeceptisque legalibus educati, gratia gentibus adveniante, &#8230;[\/ref]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hmm&#8230; that was hard going.\u00a0 But the passage is about the merciful nature of God, extending even to those who crucified him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">What&#8217;s the betting that the third reference is at col. 2600?\u00a0 I have now downloaded a PDF, so it is easier to\u00a0page through.\u00a0 And &#8230; sure enough, it is!\u00a0 This is comment on Isaiah 59:1-18 (and often the comment makes a lot more sense if you read the passage first, by the way!), which begins thus: &#8220;Behold the hand of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save, neither is his ear heavy that it cannot hear. <span id=\"en-DRA-21641\" class=\"text Isa-59-2\">But your iniquities have divided between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he should not hear. <\/span><span id=\"en-DRA-21642\" class=\"text Isa-59-3\">For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity: your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue utters iniquity. <\/span><span id=\"en-DRA-21643\" class=\"text Isa-59-4\">There is none that calls upon justice, neither is there any one that judges truly: but they trust in a mere nothing, and speak vanities: they have conceived labour, and brought forth iniquity.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">He [Isaiah] speaks here in the manner of Jeremiah: &#8230;\u00a0\u00a0 and so on.\u00a0 By whom, so to speak from little beginnings of wickedness, they went on to the murder of Christ the Saviour,\u00a0which\u00a0especially in this place it\u00a0is reasonable to include.\u00a0 For although from the blood of the Saviour their hands were\u00a0unpolluted, they were not at all free from blame; those\u00a0who demanded that blame for his blood be placed upon themselves and their children; those who attacked him with abuse, and stirred up the people against him, those who said he was mad, those who said he was a Samaritan, those who said he was born from adultery, those who said he drove out demons by the name of Beelzebub; they never ceased to accuse.[ref]Ait igitur hunc in modum Jeremias: &#8220;Virtus mea defecit me, ab iis qui maledicebant mihi.&#8221; Et noster hic propheta; &#8220;Vide ut justus tollitur,&#8221; et quae deinceps. A quibus, tanquam a parvis scelorum initiis, ad Christi Salvatoris caedem progressi sunt, quam maxime hoc loco nobis innui fuerit consentaneum. Etsi enim Salvatoris sanguine manus habent impollutas, culpa tamen haud vacant; qui sanguinis ejus in se, suosque filios, ultionem extendi postularunt: qui probris lacessere, populumque in illum concitare, qui furiosum, qui Samaritam, qui ex adulterio procreatum dicere; qui denique in Beelzelbul nomine daemonia ejiceret, incusare nunquam desierunt.[\/ref]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Again Old Testament comments about the wickedness of Israel are being seen as a prediction of the wickedness of Israel in New Testament times.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Now let&#8217;s move on to the <em>Commentary on the Octateuch<\/em>.\u00a0 Col.252.\u00a0 This is on Genesis 4:15, <em>And the Lord said to him, whoever kills Cain, I will avenge it sevenfold.<\/em>\u00a0 The comparison is between the blood of Abel and the blood of Jesus, both shed unjustly.\u00a0 Procopius compares the wanderings of the Jews, under legal protection, with those of Cain, similarly protected.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some here infer an allegorical sense.\u00a0 They say that Cain was a type of the Jews, who seeing Christ, who is meant\u00a0under the name of\u00a0Abel, eager to\u00a0be carried to\u00a0his murder, crying, &#8220;Why do you seek to kill a man who has told you the truth?&#8221;\u00a0 Of these it is testified that the father was Cain, whom Satan calls upon, &#8230; The rest [of the Jews], so that they are not completely destroyed, have been marked with a sign.\u00a0 The remnant of them\u00a0are preserved to testify to the truth of scripture.\u00a0 They have gone out also, like Cain, from the sight of God.\u00a0And the divine power speaks thus to us, saying, &#8220;When you multiply your prayers, I will not hear you, for your hands are full of blood.&#8221;\u00a0For they killed the Lord and author of life.\u00a0 In addition they shouted, &#8220;His blood be upon us and upon our children.&#8221;\u00a0 But this sacred blood, shed for us, cries out against the Jews, and according to the eloquence of Paul, better than the blood of Abel.[ref]Quidam allegoricum sensum hinc colligunt. Aiunt Cainum esse typum Judaeorum, quos videns Christus, qui per Abelum designatur, in suam caedem cupidius ferri, exclamat : &#8220;Quid me quaeritis interficere hominem, qui veritatem vobis locutus sum?&#8221; Horum patrem esse testatur Cainum, quem Satanam vocat, ut qui illius sint similes.\u00a0 &#8230; Caeterum ne penitus interciderent, signo notati sunt. Servatae enim sunt, ut testatur Scriptura reliquiae. Exierunt quoque, ut Cainus, e conspectu Dei ; Numenque sic nos alloquitur : &#8220;Cum multiplicaveritis orationem, ego non exaudiant, cum manus vestra sanguinibus repletae sint&#8221;. Interfecerunt enim ducem et auctorem vitae. Praeterea clamaverunt: &#8220;Sanguis ejus super nos et super liberos nostros.&#8221; Sed hic sacratus cruor pro nobis fusus vociferatur adversus Judaeos, et secundum eloquium Pauli, meliora quam sanguis Abeli.[\/ref]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This is starting to sound very close indeed to the medieval attitude to the Jews.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I will look at the remaining four passages in my next post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our review of patristic references to Matthew 27:25 (&#8220;His blood be upon us and our children&#8221;) has now reached the latest author given by BiblIndex, Procopius of Gaza.\u00a0 With this author we have reached the 6th century, and there is a case that we are no longer dealing with patristic writers, but rather with Byzantine [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[19],"tags":[930,1107,1385],"class_list":["post-14729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-my-diary-announcements","tag-jews","tag-matthew-2725","tag-procopius-of-gaza"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}